The woman in a black jacket and an ICE shirt hid her eyes behind sunglasses and her face behind a mask as she stepped up to the hotel desk clerk.

When she pulled out an ID card that seemed to show she was an immigration agent, she made it clear to the frightened young clerk that she had no choice but to follow her out to a silver sedan.

But this was no immigration raid. It was a kidnapping, police say.

And the woman in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement uniform, authorities say, was no federal agent. She was a jilted ex-lover using the cover of the government’s expanding deportation efforts to commit a serious crime and try to eliminate a romantic rival.

A CNN review of court filings, social media posts and local news stories has found two dozen incidents of people posing as ICE officers in 2025, in cases that range from political agitators seeking to intimidate immigrants to others using the guise of authority to allegedly kidnap, rob, assault or rape victims.

That represents a notable jump -– more incidents than during the prior four presidential terms combined, dating back to President Barack Obama’s first term in office, CNN’s review found.

“I’ve been at this for 38 years, and I’ve never seen cases involving the impersonation of ICE agents before Donald Trump won the second time,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat whose office is prosecuting two impersonator cases from this year.

Some experts and public officials have tied this rise in imposters to the Trump administration’s aggressive use of ICE agents – in particular the use of masks by agents, who often wear plain clothes during raids that have been widely captured on social media. When agents wear masks, it sows confusion about how to identify real agents, opening the door for imitators, critics argue.

“It’s very easy for somebody to just play dress up and go out acting like these agents,” said Mike German, a former FBI agent. “And because these agents have been so aggressive in public without identifying themselves, it creates fear and that fear is an opportunity for a criminal.”

ICE says masks are needed to protect agents from doxxing as mass street protests have erupted in cities like Los Angeles, and as violent threats have targeted the agency. FBI officials say anti-ICE sentiment drove the shooting that killed two detainees at an ICE facility in Dallas last week. The agency also said in a statement to CNN that agents “always have credentials visible and clearly announce who they are.”

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“ICE strongly condemns the impersonation of its law enforcement officers or agents. This action is not only dangerous but illegal. Imposters can be charged with various criminal offenses at the state/local level and federally,” the agency sa